Tag: Jamaica stamp

Jamaica is a poor high crime area. This was true in colonial as well as modern times. In the old days disorder was cracked down on harshly  by the British Army. After the Morant Bay rebellion a Constabulary of locals was established in the hope of a middle ground. Yet still Britain interferes. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The uniforms shown on this stamp will be recognizable to any British Commonwealth stamp collector. It does though also show the one huge change that came with independence, there were no longer any white faces in charge. Whether that is refreshing or terrifying depends on your point of view.

Todays stamp is issue A82, a one Shilling stamp issued by independent Jamaica on November 28th, 1967. It was a three stamp issue in different denominations celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Constabulary as it was then thought. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents unused. Curiosity had me check if there would be a 300th aniversary issue in 2016 based on the date the force uses now or a 150th in 2017 based on this stamps dates. There was neither but Jamaica does not bother with many stamp issues any more.

The Constabulary now considers their founding date 1716 when freemen were first hired to serve as night watchmen at the port of Kingston. In 1865 things were pretty desperate for the freed slaves of Jamaica. They were no longer working the fields and that year there was horrible flooding to go with no income. Paul Bogle was an untrained but literate Deacon of a black Baptist church in Morant Bay. Bogle maintained correspondence with literary and religious figures of the British political left from which he raised funds. He had also tried to sollicit a handout from Queen Victoria but she instead wrote back suggesting that her Jamaican subjects work harder. When two freeman blacks were convicted of squatting on an abandoned plantation trouble broke out. Deacon Bogle had a few people in the courtroom and many more armed outside. When the first disrupter was arrested by a baliff, the crowd outside went wild burning the courthouse and nearby buildings and killing 27.

With no national police force, British Governor John Eyre declared marshal law and the British Army marched on Morant Bay. Insert here many stories of random inocent blacks getting executed and or whipped that don’t include any evidence. Bogle himself was arrested, tried in court and executed for his part in troubles.

The British left at home made a big stink over what happened. Governor Eyre was summoned home and faced charges. Back in Jamaica a local constabulary was established, British run, but mainly staffed by local blacks. Governor Eyre was found innocent and the court decided that the charges were filed in error so Eyre was entitled to have his legal expenses covered. Deacon Bogle has of course been rehabilitated by modern Jamaica which is probably why the Constabulary reexamined their founding date to lessen the association with the uprising they were on the wrong side of.

The Constabulary is still involved with the British political left. In 2003, a crime management unit of the Constabulary was accused of extra judicial killings during a brutal gang war with the “Stone Crushers” gang. The head of the unit, black police Captain  Reneto Adams was decried in Britain as Jamaica’s version of Dirty Harry. A veteran white Scotland Yard detective was airlifted in to show the Constabulary a better way. Is anybody surprised that the detective turned out a grifter who used the assignment to set up his own security consultancy. I bet the many crime victims of Jamaica  would prefer to consult Reneto Adams.

Well my drink is empty and I may pour two more to toast Governor Eyre and Reneto Adams for being there to make the tough decision when trouble came. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

Some times people see things differently. Even if there is a certain similarity. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Among my favorite Jamaican stamp issues is the national heroes issue of 1970, We have already covered one here. https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/09/jamaica-1970-mixed-race-leaders-try-to-graft-socialism-onto-black-jamaica/This stamp features a rebel leader who was convicted of treason in 1865 and hung. It seems natural that Jamaica, newly independent, would look back into the colonial history and highlight people that were key in the long struggle. However in Australia, The British governor of Jamaica who repressed the rebellion was also honored with a stamp, not for what happened in Jamaica but his earlier accomplishments in Australia. Both stamps taken together show how similar the men were, although I am sure neither would admit it.

Todays stamp is issue A89, a one cent stamp issued by independent Jamaica on March 11th, 1970. It was part of a 5 stamp issue in various denominations that honoured the newly declared national heroes of Jamaica. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

George William Gordon was born to a Scottish planter and slave mother. At age 10 he was sent to live with his godfather who was active in business and brought Gordon in. Soon in his own right, Gordon was a wealthy businessman, landowner, assemblyman, and church Deacon at the African Baptist church. He was active in opposing British rule and even tried to acquire a former Confederate schooner to ferry arms to the he felt oppressed majority in Jamaica of former slaves.

Edward John Eyre was born in England. He set out for Australia at age 16. Through hard work, he acquired a flock of 400 lambs and raising them in New South Wales. At age 22 he drove his flock of now over 1000 lamb and 600 cattle to Adelaide where they were sold for a large profit. The profits were then used to fund three expeditions that explored the Australian interior. This brought him some fame and he was then charged as a colonial administrator in first New Zealand and later as the British appointed Governor of Jamaica.

After slavery ended in Jamaica the plantation system broke down with former slaves were attempting subsistence farming on small farms with poor results. In 1865 in Morant Bay, a black man was convicted of trespassing and stealing from a long abandoned plantation and given a long prison sentence. This did not sit well with the locals who took over the town center, burned the courthouse, and killed in the street the local officials. The African Baptist church than lead a march toward Kingston to present their demands to Governor Eyre. Instead of meeting with them, he sent troops that killed 400, flogged 1000 more and burned many homes. The leader of the church and co conspirator Gordon were tried for treason and hung. The rebellion failed and Britain withdrew some of the self government previously granted at Governor Eyre’s suggestion.

Gordon’s case became somewhat a cause celeb among the British left afterward. Gordon had been in contact previously with members of the English religious left as part of his role as deacon in Jamaica. Notables including John Stuart Mill tried to have charges brought against now recalled Governor Eyre. On Eyre side were more right wing notables including Charles Dickens who respected Eyre and thought he had taken the necessary tough decisions. The case went Eyre’s way and he lived quietly for the rest of his life in England.

Today in Australia many geographic points in Australia have Eyre’s name while in Jamaica, you will find much named after Gordon. He is even on the $10 coin. So now like then you can pick your place and choose whom you admire. I find myself most drawn by their similarities.

Well my drink is empty. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

How a place is to be administered after the colonial power leaves is a difficult issue. Socialists in the mid 20th century brought much to that discussion but convincing the people that this is how they should self determine is a challenge. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I rather like this stamp. So many former colonies shut off anyone who participated in the colonial administration as if they were evil vassals of the devil. Yet here is a stamp issue that declares them heroes. Not that Jamaica was in a great place but it was independent and there was hope for a better future. This is not a standard Commonwealth issue with the Queen in the corner aimed at Anglophile stamp collectors. This is a more open window into Jamaica.

Todays stamp is issue A89, a 5 cent stamp issued by Jamaica on March 11th 1970. It displays former Prime Minister Norman Manley. It was part of a 5 stamp issue honoring leaders of the movement toward independence. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used or which independence leader was displayed. One of the leaders is Marcus Garvey is also known as a civil rights leader in the USA. This does not seem to help it’s value which I think is pretty good evidence that not enough historians of the civil rights movement collect stamps.

Post World War II, Great Britain’s time in Jamaica was nearing an end. As part of the transition two members of the Jamaica mixed race community were given prominence. They were Alexander Bustamante and the subject of this stamp Norman Manley. They were well educated in Britain and surprisingly even served in Empire militaries. Their educations had seen them exposed to the workers unite socialist movements that they hoped would be good for Jamaica. The challenges economically for Jamaica were great. Sugar cane really does require the type of large plantations and ample slave labor to be economically successful. Therefore it is not suited to post land reform, post independence Jamaica. In the 1950s, there was a bauxite mining boom that saw Jamaica become the world’s leading producer. These facilities were foreign owned and it is always a challenge to make sure the foreign company is making enough to continue while the area is seeing enough of the benefit. Remember Dr. No’s laird in Crab Key was a bauxite mine in the James Bond movie.

The two leaders formed rival socialist parties and set out toward land and education reform. In education, results were mixed as the new opportunities only slowly trickled from the top down and land reform saw output collapse as the crops did not suit the new small farms. The bauxite mines were so heavily taxed and beset with labor strife that Jamaica has fallen far down the list of producers. Another independence leader, Marcus Garvey, proposed former slaves emigrating back to Africa, where they won’t be held back the vestiges of the colonial system. His ideas were never tried.

By the end of the 60s things were getting worst fast. Manley’s son Michael took over his father’s party and served as Prime Minister several times the first in 1972. By then mixed race leaders were unfashionable and many of the younger Manley’s six wives were black. He even took to wearing a formal but shirtless and tieless Kariba suit. Bustamante old party was now in black hands and the two parties had armed gangs fight it out in the street during election time. 800 died in the 1980 election.

Well, my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Marcus Garvey. Since his ideas were not tried, he did not disappoint anyone. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

Here is one of those stamps celebrating a colony’s contribution to the war effort. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The visuals of this stamp are inspiring. A very early commemorative  of soldiers in a far off colony marching off to fight World War I. a scene that played out over and over in Britain. The stamp, and those like it, had to be aimed at least somewhat at the home front. It is trying to imply that that there was equal sacrifice throughout the colonies. This was not true in the case of Jamaica.

The stamp today is issue A20, a one and one half penny stamp issued by the British Crown Colony of Jamaica in 1919. The stamp honoured the service of Jamaicans in World War I. It was part of a 12 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 used. The one shilling stamp from this issue featuring a statue of Queen Victoria exists in a printing mistake inverted form. That stamp is worth $40,000. There was also a 6 penny issue commemorating the abolition of slavery that were ordered and printed but then the decision was taken locally not to issue them. These are worth $825 mint.

Jamaica was discovered by Christopher Columbus, who claimed it for Spain. Around 1650, Britain conquered it. At first is was an open refuge for pirates that received letters of marquis from Britain to attack Spanish shipping. Eventually sugar cane plantations were established and large numbers of African slaves were imported to work on the plantations. After slavery was outlawed in the British Empire, the sugar cane plantations failed. The freed blacks refused the work opting instead for small farms where they engaged in subsistence farming for their own benefit. The descendants of slaves outnumbered white colonists 20 to one. Sugar cane exports gradually dried up and although there was some success with bananas, the economy was in severe decline.

The black residents of Jamaica were increasingly thinking of independence. Unusually there was also a movement to go back to Africa. Marcus Garvey, a black Jamaican, was an important part of this movement both at home and in the USA. He proposed economic and literal segregation from whites. He is considered a prophet by Rastapharians and a hero in Jamaica history.

The contribution of Jamaica to World War I was fairly minimal. There was no conscription but a pre existing regimemt  with Black soldiers and regular army white British officers fought in some of the African campaigns against German colonies there. Since half of the regiment was stationed in Sierra Leone pre war. The regiment was under no local control and was never used for local policing. This pales compared to sacrafice in Britain itself. The colonies were getting much more controversial in Britain post World War I. The average Briton simply did not have much benefit from them.

Well, my drink is empty so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.